REALITIES AND PERSPECTIVES OF MENTOR ACTIVITY EXPRESSION: CASE STUDY OF LITHUANIAN POLICE SCHOOL

Abstract

In the analysis of the need for continuing vocational education and training, the problem of activity was observed: officials fail to convey the available professional knowledge and skills by training newly recruited officials on the spot, which superimposed the scientific problem: what are the possibilities of expressing the mentor's activities in the territorial police establishment?Object: mentoring at the Lithuania police school.Purpose: to analyze theoretically the activities of the mentor and to empirically reveal the possibilities of expression of mentoring in the Lithuania police school.Tasks to achieve the purpose of the article: 1) describe the concept of mentoring and mentor, and describe the forms of mentoring, o reveal the peculiarities of the mentor's activity, required characteristics and activity functions in the Lithuanian Police School; 2) to analyze the respondents' attitudes towards the realities and perspectives of the expression of the mentor's activity in the Lithuanian Police School.The analysis of scientific literature was done in order to theoretically describe and systematize and analyze the concept of mentoring and mentor in the context of a Lithuania police school.A questionnaire survey was conducted in order to examine the respondents' attitude to the importance of mentoring in the Lithuanian Police School, to reveal the role of the mentor and his / her behavioral attitudes in the Lithuanian Police School. Data analysis is performed by collecting and organizing data using the Google Forms tool to create databases in MS Excel. The obtained results and data are interpreted using specialized statistical computer software SPSS (Social Sciences Statistics Package).The conclusions of the research: The concept of mentoring and mentoring in the context of professional activity, Lithuanian police school activity is based theoretically (formal, informal nature of mentoring) and acceptable in practice as support, assistance to less experienced officers (protected persons) in developing their career. Mentoring is a mentor's activity, defined as the relationship, the relationship between an experienced and a less experienced officer, during which the mentor teaches, advises, helps and provides feedback. The mentor's activities must be based on the functions of counseling, guidance, monitoring, evaluation, and consensus. The mentor must have the necessary skills: to be competent, respectful, flexible, self-confident and patronized, interested in helping, to be a real authority and example. Social, didactic, subject and personal mentor competencies are distinguished. Mentoring is associated with other areas of professional support and assistance: educational guidance, supervision, staff training, etc., which follow similar principles. Only the Lithuanian Police School itself can decide which of these measures is more useful for officers and the organization.After examining the competencies of a mentor's activity through quantitative research, the respondents emphasize the importance of personal qualities. The main personal qualities that a mentor should have are communicability, flexibility, leadership skills, the ability to be a real role model for the person being protected. The application of all these qualities provides an opportunity for collaboration between the mentor and the protected person. The main functions of a mentor's activity at the Lithuanian Police School are support, assistance to the protected person, development in professional activities, ensuring professional integration. Mentoring can provide the Lithuanian Police School not only with great benefits in terms of human resource development, but also in terms of knowledge management. Mentoring also benefits not only the professional development of the organization or the mentee, but also the mentor himself. The research revealed that it is possible to implement formal mentoring in a Lithuanian police school, because a positive attitude prevails and there are people who are able and willing to become mentors. The research highlighted that mentoring in the Lithuanian Police School focused on information, relationship development and the vision of the protected person is an area of the mentor's activity and behavior that needs to be improved.